


Wall

by KarkaHatchlings



Series: Guild Wars 2 Interstitial [7]
Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game), Guild Wars Series (Video Games)
Genre: Adventure, Conversations, Fluff, Gen, Historical References, Melancholy, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 18:25:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14878940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KarkaHatchlings/pseuds/KarkaHatchlings
Summary: Two humans meet by the old Ascalonian wall in Diessa Plateau.





	Wall

Sere brown and rust red marked one side, stretching north into iron-dotted uplands.  On the other, it was cut-stone grey and mist white, shot through with the blurred blue shapes of the marshaled dead, still fighting in confusion under a banner fallen more than two centuries ago.  Running along that divide was the Wall, like the jagged, broken spine of a book, the terminator between a page on the present and a page on the past.

Charter flipped a page in the heavy, ancient book on his lap, preserved vellum still soft and flexible between his fingers.  The traveling author had written from the time of the invasions, speaking of how the world had changed, but his writings were cold comfort to someone worried about new troubles.  Distraction plagued his reading anyway, he glanced up from time to time, watching the slow approach of a distant figure.

The Ascalonians had meant to keep what they took, shielding their cities behind towering wall and impregnable defense, but were invaded in turn by their old foes, losing everything but the lives of those who fled.  Now the storm-haze on the northern horizon, laced with greasy columns of smoke, presaged another invasion for the long-suffering patch of ground.

Clattering stones, nearer, presaged the long-awaited arrival.  With a sigh, the man closed the book and tucked it into his pack.  “Roads clear, Hale?” he stood as the newcomer covered the last of the distance.  

“All the way from Ebonhawke,” replied the younger human brightly, running a hand through short, well-groomed hair.  He’d had it cut yet again, it seemed. “Well, a bit of trouble crossing Ascalon City, but...” He tapped the axe at his belt with a self-satisfied grin.  Its twin was tucked on the other side, both shining from exacting care.

“Seen your... have you seen Chalice?” Charter asked, carefully rephrasing as he went.  A momentary darkening of the other man’s expression showed it was a sore spot. Untangling the nuances of noble descent wasn't Charter's business, however.

“She’s been spending time in Hoelbrak,” Hale answered, recovering his smile quickly enough, “leading her current interest around by the nose.  I might collect her before I head up to the Sound.”

“Still on the trail?” As they spoke, Charter had shifted restlessly, finally just setting off down the road to the west and trusting the young man would follow.

When Hale caught up and fell into step alongside him, a nod confirmed the guess.  “I heard a rumor it might have been looted by the Svanir, offered up to the dragon’s champion.  I’ll find it,” his irrepressible confidence made the older man smile slightly, “I’m already gathering up the other things I’ll need.

“Did you want to come with?”

Charter shook his head.  “Bound for Nolan myself.”

On their left, the Great Northern Wall was tumbled, one stone laid atop the next only in a few places, affording a clear view of the ruins of the city within it had failed to protect.  The long-past war had proven too much even for the mighty edifice but it still refused to let itself be forgotten. Distant cannon fire pounded, thunder overlapping with crunching impacts, the leisurely charr assault to erase even that remnant still dragging on.

“It must’ve been something to see in its time,” Charter voiced his earlier thoughts, nodding at the crumbling wreckage.  His companion looked over at the Wall, squinting up at the remaining heights as if he’d only now noticed it.

“Hm, yeah.”  The shrug made the mail in the joints of Hale’s artfully-blackened armor rasp before it resumed the soft jingle of the quick pace he was following.  “Not quite enough, I guess.”

Charter adjusted his pack-straps with a shrug of his own.  “Everything passes away, they say. Legend has the jotun ruling the land long ago, and now they’re huddled in caves while snow buries their old steadings,” then, more pointedly, “and the kodan were a power in the north, rather than a few ships of refugees fleeing the dragons.”  Always soft-spoken, his voice had taken a melancholy turn.

“Yeah!” this reply was more enthusiastic, Hale finding a way to relate to the conversation but remaining oblivious to the other man’s morose mood.  “You know, there’s a place in Nolan like that.”

“Huge gears, norn-tall,” his hands described the rough size and shape, “maybe from old war machines, all just rusting and moss-covered in a big pile back behind the town.  Charr cubs use it like a playground.”

“It makes you think,” he rambled on, missing Charter’s gently sardonic smile, “all the effort made to build them, how important they were, and now they’re just garbage.  You can't even really tell for sure what they used to be. Maybe hundreds of years from now, the charr will look at all that and think: whatever was it for, if that’s what it came to?”

“Aye.”  The simple agreement seemed enough:  at least Hale was thinking, even if the first cue had been beyond him.  When the younger man looked over for confirmation of the approval, Charter nodded kindly.  “Let’s just hope it’s the charr and the rest of us that are around to look at it.” The other’s smooth, clear features turned grim at the reminder of the struggles facing the world, but only for a moment.

The ruined wall fell away behind them, replaced by the more modern fortifications of the looming charr capitol, and the road split, the lesser fork headed north.  Again, Charter found himself stopped at a divide.

The contents of one deep pocket clanked when he fished into it, withdrawing several flat flasks.  “The oils you wanted,” he turned them over to Hale, then produced a small paper-wrapped package from inside his coat.  “And the sigil and rune set. You can manage the bindings to your armor, right?”

“Of course!” was the almost scornful reply.  Charter chose to ignore the tone, trusting there was no offence meant by the enthusiasm.  Hale tucked away the flasks in his own pack for later use but turned the smaller parcel over in his hands gleefully.  "Everyone's talking about this combination in the Reach. I'm eager to try it out up north."

Again, the older of the pair looked up toward the Shiverpeaks, contemplating what the dust-laden storms lurking in the foothills might hide.  “Just be careful up there,” warned Charter, “these invaders have some new tricks.”

“A few moles and cats can’t be any worse together than they are apart,” tossing the package up in the air then snatching it again as it fell, Hale set off down the northern road, “thanks, though!”

There was only so much a person could be warned, Charter reflected, turning to trudge down his own path.  The rest would come with age and hopefully not-too-bitter experience. He was drawn up short, however, by a shout from the younger man.  

“Hey!  Charter!” called Hale back, waving, “that junkyard I told you about:  you can climb up the gears behind it and there’s an amazing garden back there.  If you’re going to Nolan, might want to have a look.”

“Oh?” shouted his erstwhile companion in reply.  Charter was trusting the distance to hide the weary tolerance on his face.  “Where’d you hear about that?”

“Pleek mentioned something about it!”

The only reply Hale could discern was the man turning to resume his course.  He might have noticed Charter’s more hurried steps, but his thoughts were already on the long road still ahead and the challenges and fortune that surely awaited.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted in /gw2g/.
> 
> Events and locations referenced here correspond to in-game events and locations.


End file.
